Peloponnesos

   The peninsula of southern Greece (q.v.), whose name means "Island of Pelops," joined to the Greek mainland by the narrow Isthmus of Corinth (q.v.). It was part of the Roman province of Achaia (q.v.), whose capital was Corinth (q.v.), in Roman and Early Byzantine times. The devastation wrought by Alaric's (q.v.) invasion of 396-397 resulted in a barrier wall called the Hexamilion (q.v.) across the Isthmus of Corinth. Nevertheless, in the late sixth century the Peloponnesos was invaded by Slavs (q.v.) who settled chiefly in mountainous regions, like the Melingoi and Ezeritai who lived in the Taygetos Mountains. Byzantine power was reestablished during the reign of Nikephoros I (q.v.). In 1205, in the aftermath of the Fourth Crusade (q.v.), William I Champlitte and Geoffrey I Villehardouin (qq.v.) began their conquest of the Peloponnesos, creating the Frankish principality of Achaia (q.v.), with strongholds at Mistra, Monemvasia (qq.v.), and Maina. The Franks referred to the Peloponnesos more generally by the enigmatic name Morea (q.v.). In 1262 much of Frankish Achaia, including Mistra (q.v.), was returned to Byzantine hands following the battle of Pelagonia (1259). The Byzantine despotate of Mistra (1348-1460) was intermittently threatened by the Ottomans (q.v.). Manuel II Palaiologos (q.v.) rebuilt the Hexamilion in 1415, but the Ottomans overran it in 1423 and 1446. The last vestige of Byzantium (q.v.) in the Peloponnesos fell in 1460, when Mistra surrendered to Mehmed II (q.v.).